Pages

Wednesday 19 December 2012

I have been to … the Tøjhusmuseet (The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum), Copenhagen

The Tøjhusmuseet is part of the complex of building around the Christiansborg Palace. At the time of my recent visit (December 2012), the museum was undergoing renovation, but its artillery collection was on display, as was a special exhibition about the role played by Danish troops in Afghanistan.


Visitors are allowed to take photographs of the exhibits, but the captions are all in Danish. That said, common sense and knowledge of military terminology makes it possible to understand the majority of them.

Because my time was limited, I concentrated on photographing the more modern artillery on show … but this represented less than half of the exhibits in the museum.

The museum is housed in part of the old Arsenal complex, and a model of this is one of the first exhibits a visitor sees.



The rest of this blog takes the form of a photo-essay, and shows examples of some of the artillery that is on show in the museum.

Twin 40mm Bofors Anti-aircraft Guns on naval mounting (Swedish)



Twin 37mm Anti-aircraft Guns on static mounting (Danish)



Goliath Remote-controlled Demolition vVhicle (German)


88mm FLAK36 Anti-aircraft Gun (German)


20mm M1940S Automatic Cannon (Danish)



75mm PAK40 Anti-tank Gun (German)



37mm Bofors M1938 Anti-tank Gun (Danish/Swedish)



20mm M1941 Anti-aircraft Gun (Swedish)


Carden-Loyd M1933 Light Tank (Danish)
Also known as the Carden-Loyd Patrol Car Mk VI (DK), this is one of the two vehicles purchased in 1932. They served until 1937, when they were retired from service after being deemed unfit for purpose. This example is shown on a specially-designed transport trailer.




88mm U-Boat Gun (German)



75mm M1914 Coastal Artillery Gun (Danish)



75mm M1896/1916 Field Gun (German)



75mm M1897 Field Gun (French)



75mm Field Gun (Danish)



37mm Quick-Firing Gun in transportable armoured pillbox (Danish)
This appears to be similar in design to the German fahrbare Panzerlafette (movable armour carriage), later shortened to Fahrpanzer (mobile armour), which was armed with a 5.3cm Gruson Quick-Firing Gun.




19cm M1898 Fortress Howitzer (Danish)



12cm M1897 Fortress Gun (Danish)



15cm M1887/1924 Fortress Gun on Field Artillery mounting (Danish)



15cm M1884 Fortress Gun (Danish)



37mm Revolving Cannon



40mm Automatic Cannon



12cm M1893 Fortress Gun (Danish)



37mm M1886 Quick-Firing Gun (Danish)


37mm Fortress Gun (Danish)



17cm M1887 Coastal Defence Gun (Danish)


47mm M1887 Quick-Firing Gun (Danish)



9cm M1876 Field Gun (Danish)


4-pounder M1862/1863 Rifled Field Gun (Danish)



12-pounder M1862/1876 Rifled Fortress Gun (Danish)



30-pounder M1865 Rifled Coastal Artillery Gun (Danish)



12-pounder M1862/1863 Rifled Fortress Artillery Gun (Danish)


84-pounder M1862/1863 Rifled Coastal Artillery Gun (Danish)


12cm Rifled Field Gun (Belgian)


12-pounder M1834 Smooth-bore Field Gun (Danish)



If you visit the Tøjhusmuseet, its address is Tøjhusgade 3, DK-1214, København, Danmark (Tel: +45 33 11 60 37; website: www.thm.dk)

8 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    That is a gem of a museum and no mistake! I liked the 37mm revolving cannon - I am not sure how you PW or MoB it though!

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Crook,

    I only wish that I had had more time to take even more photographs. The next time I go back I also hope that the galleries that are being refurbished will also be open.

    It would appear that these mobile armoured gun mountings were a bit more common than I first thought, and the Krupp sold them to a few countries.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting set of pictures. Gives one pause for thought when looking at the 37mm doorknocker sort of A/T gun parked beside the massive 75mm PAk.

    SO when are you going back to get pictures of the rest? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. That portable pill box and gattling cannon are soooo 'steampunk'! Could I use your pillbox image as my forum avatar in a particular online game?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ross Mac,

    The disparity of size between the two guns illustrates the amount of development that took place in such a short time.

    I hope to go back at some time in the future ... but I am not sure when.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adelaide Gamer,

    It is a wonderful oddity isn't it?

    Please feel free to use the illustration as your avatar, but if anyone asks where it came from, please don't forget to give me the credit for it.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cheers Bob. It is just plain weird to my eye! I've an idea I'm bound to be asked about the provenance and it will be a pleasure to direct such punters here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adelaide Gamer,

    I must admit that all of these mobile machine gun positions/pillboxes look very odd to me ... and do have a strong steam-punk look about them.

    Any visitors to my blog are welcome, as are any links/recommendations.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. Please note that any comments that are spam or contain phishing messages or that come from Google Accounts that are 'Unknown' will be deleted.